Bulletin  No.  26 

U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE 


OFFICE  OF  EXPERIMENT  STA 


152 


Agricultural  Experiment  Stations 


Their  Objects  and  Work 


BY 


,A.|C.    TRUE 

Directorl  of  thf  Office  of  Experiment  Stations 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT    PRINTING    OFFICE 

1895 


THE  AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIMENT  STATIONS. 


Alabama— Auburn.-     College    Station;     W.     L. 

Broun,  t     Fniontown  :    Canebrake  Station ;  H. 

Benton. J 
Arizona— Tucson :  W.  S.  Devol.* 
Arkansas—  Fayetteville.-  R.  L.  Bennett.  * 
California— Berkeley  :  E.  W.  Hilgard.  * 
Colorado— Fort  Collins  :  Alston  Ellis.  * 
Connecticut— New  Haven .-  State  Station  ;  S.  "W. 

Johnson.*    Storm:    Storrs  Station;  W.  0.  At- 

water.* 
Delaware— Newark :  A.  T.  Neale.* 
Florida— L ake  City :  O.  Clute.  * 
Georgia— Experiment :  R.  J.  Bedding.  * 
Idaho— Moscow  :  C.  P.  Fox.  * 
Illinois—  Urban  a:  T.  J.  Burrill.  t 
Indiana— Lafayette  :  C.  S.  Plumb.  * 
Iowa— Ames  :  James  Wilson.  * 
Kansas— Manhattan :  G.  T.  Faircbild.  J 
Kentucky— Lexington  :  M.  A.  Scovell.  * 
Louisiana — Audubon  Park,  New  Orleans:  Sugar 

Station.   Baton  Rouge :  State  Station.  Calhoun: 

North  Louisiana  Station.     TV.  C.  Stubbs.  * 
Maine—  Orono  :  TV.  H.  Jordan.  * 
Maryland—  College  Park  .-  B.  H.  Miller.  * 
Massachusetts— Amherst:  H.  H.  Goodell.  * 
Michigan— A  gricultural  College:  C.  D.  Smith.* 
Minnesota— &£.  Anthony  Park :  \V.  M.  Liggett.  § 
Mississippi — Agricultural  College:  S.  M.  Tracy.* 
Missouri—  Columbia:  H.  J.  Waters.* 
Montana— Bozeman  :  S.  M.  Emery.  * 


Nebraska — Lincoln : 
Nevada— Reno .-  J.  E.  Stubbs.* 
New  Hampshire—  Durham:  C.  S.  Murkland.J 
New  Jersey— Xeiv   Brunsivick:     State   Station; 
E.   B.  Voorhees.  *    New    Brunswick :    College 
Station;  A.  Scott.  * 
New  Mexico— Mesilla  Park  :  S.  I'.  McCrea.  * 
New  York—  Geneva  :  State  Station;   P.  Collier.* 
Ithaca:  Cornell  University  Station ;  I.  P.  Rob- 
erts.* 
North  Carolina— Raleigh :  H.  B.  Battle.* 
North  Dakota— Fargo .-  J.  H.  TVorst.  * 
Ohio—  Wooster :  C.  E.  Thome.* 
Oklahoma—  Stilhvater :  G.  E.  Morrow.* 
Oregon—  Corvallis:  J.  M.  Bloss.  * 
Pennsylvania— State  College:  H.  P.  Armsby.* 
Rhode  Island— Kingston  :  C.  O.  Flagg.  * 
South  Carolina—  Clemson  College:  E.  B.  Craig- 
head. * 
South  Dakota— Brookings:  J.  H.  Shepard.  * 
Tennessee— Kuoxville  :  C.  F.  Vanderford.  || 
Texas—  College  Station  :  J.  H.  Connell.  * 
Utah— Logan  :  J.  H.  Paul.* 
Vermont— Burlington  :  J.  L.  Hills.  * 
Virginia — Blacksburg  ;  J.  M.  McBryde.  * 
TVashixgton— Pullman :  E.A.Bryan.* 
TVest  Virginia— Morgantoicn  :  J.  A.  Myere.  * 
TV  isconsin— Madison  :  W.A.Henry.* 
"Wyoming— La  ramie:  A.  A.Johnson.  * 


*  Director. 

t  President  of  board  of  direction. 

t  Assistant  director  in  charge. 


§  Chairman  of  council. 

||  Secretary. 

17  Acting  director. 


Bulletin  No.  26 

U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE 

OFFICE  OF  EXPERIMENT  STATIONS 


152 


Agricultural  Experiment  Stations 


Their  Objects  and  Work 


A.    C.    TRUE 

Director  of  the  Office  of  Experiment  Stations 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT     PRINTING    OFFICE 

1895 


LETTER  OE  TRANSMITTAL 


United  States  Department  of  Agriculture, 

Office  of  Experiment  Stations, 

Washington,  D.  0.,  August  10,  1895.  . 
Sir  :  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  for  publication  as  a  bul- 
letin of  this  Office  a  brief  summary  of  the  objects,  organization,  and 
work  of  the  agricultural  experiment  stations  in  the  United  States.  This 
publication  will  in  a  sense  be  supplementary  to  Farmers'  Bulletin  2s"o  1, 
The  What  and  Why  of  Agricultural  Experiment  Stations,  issued  soon 
after  the  establishment  of  this  Office  and  now  out  of  print.  The  com- 
plexity of  the  organization  and  operations  of  the  stations  makes  it 
difficult  to  clearly  present  in  condensed  form  even  the  main  features  of 
this  great  system,  but  it  is  hoped  that  this  bulletin  will  at  least  enable 
the  reader  to  correctly  interpret  the  general  purpose  for  which  the  stav- 
tions  were  established  and  to  appreciate  in  some  degree  the  vastness  of 
the  enterprise  which  the  people  of  this  country  are  maintaining  in  the 
effort  to  utilize  tlie  methods  and  results  of  scientific  inquiry  for  the 
benefit  of  agriculture. 
Eespectfully, 

A.  0.  True, 

Director. 
Hon.  J.  Sterling  Morton, 

Secretary  of  Agriculture. 

3 


CONTENTS 


Page. 

Objects  of  the  stations 5 

Methods  of  station  work 6 

History  of  the  stations 8 

Organization  of  the  stations 10 

Buildings  and  equipment 11 

Work  of  the  stations 11 

Number  of  station  officers 13 

Extent  of  station  publications 13 

Ways  in  -which  the  stations  help  the  farmer 14 

The  Office  of  Experiment  Stations 15 

4 


AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIMENT  STATIONS. 


OBJECTS    OF    THE    STATIONS. 

An  agricultural  exjjerirneut  station  is  an  institution  in  which  scien- 
tific and  practical  investigations  are  made  with  a  view  to  improving 
the  methods  of  agriculture  or  introducing  new  crops  or  industries. 
The  primary  object  of  an  experiment  station  is  to  apply  scientific  prin- 
ciples and  methods  to  the  problems  of  agriculture.  It  seeks  to  use 
for  the  benefit  of  agriculture  the  stores  of  knowledge  regarding  the 
operations  of  nature  which  science  has  accumulated  and  to  employ  in 
the  service  of  agriculture  the  trained  brains  and  hands  of  scientists^ 
Taking  advantage  of  whatever  has  been  discovered  in  any  line  of  sci- 
entific research,  the  experiment  station  should  institute  investigations 
to  increase  accurate  information  regarding  the  great  principles  which 
underlie  the  growth  of  plants  and  animals  and  to  make  new  applications 
of  well-known  principles  in  the  practical  work  of  the  fanner.  It  is 
very  important  that  we  should  keep  clearly  before  us  the  conception 
of  the  experiment  station  as  primarily  a  scientific  institution.  This 
will  enable  us  to  understand  its  proper  functions  and  prevent  us  from 
misjudging  much  of  its  work. 

The  importance  of  scientific  investigations  as  related  to  the  arts  has 
long  been  recognized  in  many  industries.  Hidden  away  in  almost 
every  factory  may  be  found  a  chemist,  microscopist,  or  electrician  busily 
engaged  in  endeavors  to  solve  the  problems  of  the  industrial  arts. 
These  men  are  working  on  the  materials  used  in  the  arts  and  have  in 
view  practical  results,  but  they  are  using  scientific  methods  and  are 
employed  solely  because  the  manufacturers  hope  that  rich  rewards  will 
result  from  the  application  of  scientific  principles  to  practical  ends. 
The  wise  employer  leaves  these  men  to  work  in  their  own  way — he  does 
not  expect  that  the  chemist  will  use  the  blacksmith's  bellows,  or  the 
grocer's  scales,  or  the  carpenter's  tools.  He  must  have  the  apparatus 
of  the  chemist  and  he  must  be  free  to  follow  the  methods  of  the  labo- 
ratory rather  than  those  of  the  workshop.  The  factory  chemist  may 
have  large  wages,  he  may  spoil  much  valuable  material,  and  he  may 
work  for  months  without  any  result  that  will  bring  a  single  additional 
dollar  into  the  manufacturer's  treasury,  but  as  long  as  there  is  a  rea- 
sonable hope  that  something  profitable  will  result  the  chemist  is  kept 


at  his  task.  One  day  he  may  find  out  something  which  will  give  the 
employer  the  advantage  over  his  competitors  and  pay  a  thousand  times 
over  for  all  the  expense  which  the  chemist  has  caused.  There  is  always 
the  risk  of  total  failure,  but  experience  has  shown  that  in  the  long  run 
the  arts  have  profited  exceedingly  by  the  labors  of  scientists. 

What  manufacturers  have  been  doing  for  themselves  because  they 
found  it  very  profitable  the  Government  has  undertaken  to  do  for  the 
farmers.  Scientific  investigations  are  necessarily  expensive.  Such 
investigations  as  are  likely  to  be  of  advantage  to  agriculture  must*  be 
conducted  on  so  extensive  a  scale  as  to  be  beyond  the  means  of  the  indi- 
vidual farmer.  Agriculture  is  so  fundamental  to  all  other  arts  and  its 
success  is  so  vital  to  all  classes  of  people  that  it  has  been  deemed  expe- 
dient to  extend  governmental  aid  to  this  industry  on  considerations  of 
the  public  welfare. 

METHODS    OF    STATION   WORK. 

But  however  it  may  be  supported,  the  experiment  station  may  be 
briefly  described  as  an  organized  effort  of  science  to  aid  the  farmer. 
The  ultimate  object  in  view  is  the  practical  result  which  will  benefit 
agriculture,  but  the  processes  by  which  that  result  is  to  be  reached  will 
be  for  the  most  part  such  as  science  shall  suggest.  To  the  practical 
man  they  will  often  be  obscure  and  may  seem  to  be  absurd.  But  he 
must  be  content  if,  even  after  long  waiting  and  much  disappointment, 
he  receives  benefits  which  he  could  not  have  obtained  in  any  other  way. 
It  is  necessary  to  dwell  upon  this  point  because  it  is  difficult  for  many 
people  to  understand  why  the  experiment  stations  insist  upon  doing  so 
many  things  which  the  farmer  does  not  understand,  and  why  even  in 
their  simpler  work  which  is  along  the  line  of  ordinary  operations  of 
the  farm  they  depart  oftentimes  so  widely  from  the  traditional  practice 
of  successful  farmers.  It  is  because  the  experiment  station  is  not  a 
model  farm  or  a  money- making  farm  or  dairy,  but  an  institution  in 
which  science  is  working  in  the  interests  of  agriculture,  that  it  is  bound 
to  use  the  methods  of  science  rather  than  those  of  the  practical  farmer. 
There  should  be  order  and  system  in  the  work  of  the  station — more 
thorough  and  rigid  than  the  best  farmers  enforce — but  such  methods 
should  be  followed  as  science  approves.  This  should  be  the  case  even 
in  the  conduct  of  the  field  work  of  the  station,  which  involves  the  use 
to  a  considerable  extent  of  the  ordinary  operations  of  the  farm.  Sup- 
pose, for  examine,  an  experiment  with  fertilizers  is  to  be  made.  The 
field  must  be  carefully  selected,  the  plats  accurately  measured,  the 
seeds  tested,  the  fertilizers  analyzed  and  weighed,  the  soil  physically 
and  chemically  examined,  the  growth  of  the  crop  closely  watched,  the 
product  certainly  determined  and  examined — a  hundred  things  must  be 
done  which  the  farmer  does  not  need  to  do;  that  is,  the  object  should  be 
to  make  careful  and  accurate  observations  of  the  materials  and  phe- 
nomena involved  in  the  experiment,  and  to  classify  these  observations 


with  a  view  to  determining  the  real  effects  of  the  different  fertilizers 
on  the  crop. 

Work  of  that  kind  is  scientific  though  much  simpler  than  is  necessary 
in  other  lines  of  station  work.  Now,  it  may  be  that  at  the  end  of  the 
experiment  some  farmer  will  look  over  the  plats,  and,  seeing  marked 
differences  in  the  results  produced  by  different  fertilizers,  will  say  it 
is  plain  enough  that  this  fertilizer  is  good  for  this  crop  in  this  soil  and 
that  fertilizer  is  of  no  benefit.  In  a  general  way  an  experienced  farmer 
may  estimate  the  results  of  the  experiment  as  well  as  the  experiment 
station  officer,  and  for  that  reason  he  may  think  that  all  the  pains 
which  the  station  takes  to  get  an  accurate  record  of  the  experiment  is 
largely  a  waste  of  time  and  money.  But  whoever  thinks  thus  misses 
the  essential  value  of  experiment  station  work.  Farmers  have  been 
going  on  for  generations  in  certain  practical  lines,  and  as  the  result  of 
the  irregular  and  haphazard  efforts  of  intelligent  men  have  gradually 
improved  the  practice  of  their  art.  Experience  is  valuable,  and  he  who 
tries  new  ways  of  work  may  prove  a  benefactor;  but  the  glory  of  our 
age  is  that  men  have  begun  to  introduce  system  into  their  schemes  for 
improvement  and  have  found  that  by  careful  experimenting  in  accord- 
ance with  an  orderly  plan  they  can  make  much  more  rapid  progress 
and  avoid  many  disheartening  failures. 

The  experiment  station  has  been  established  to  do  this  work  for  the 
farmer,  and  it  is  its  duty  to  blaze  out  new  paths  and  not  to  follow 
the  beaten  track,  even  though  to  many  it  may  seem  to  be  a  good  one. 
The  practice  of  good  farmers  is  oftentimes  a  false  guide.  The  station 
should  not  follow  it  unless  it  can  see  the  reason  for  it.  It  must  study 
the  matter  from  the  other  standpoint,  viz,  that  of  the  investigator,  and 
make  sure  that  it  is  right.  Let  us  illustrate  this  by  an  example  drawn 
from  the  feeding  of  animals.  One  of  the  stations  was  examining  the 
rations  which  farmers  were  feeding  to  their  milch  cows.  It  came  to 
one  man  who  was  considered  by  his  neighbors  a  successful  feeder, 
keeping  his  animals  in  good  condition  and  making  money  from  their 
products.  On  examination  his  rations  proved  to  be  quite  different  from 
those  recommended  by  the  feeding  standards.  A  year  later,  when  the 
station  officers  made  a  second  visit  to  this  farmer,  they  found  that  he 
had  made  a  radical  change  in  his  rations,  which  now  conformed  quite 
closely  to  the  standards.  Inquiry  showed  that  the  feeder  had  become 
convinced  that,  while  he  was  making  money  before,  he  could  make 
more  by  following  the  advice  of  the  station,  which  was  based  on  the 
scientific  principles  of  feeding.  In  that  case,  at  least,  science  was  a 
better  guide  than  what  seemed  to  be  a  successful  practice. 

Another  point  to  be  carefully  considered  in  judging  of  the  work  of 
agricultural  experiment  stations  relates  to  the  nature  of  the  scientific 
investigations  which  they  may  properly  undertake,  and  to  the  kind 
of  results  which  may  reasonably  be  expected  from  such  investigations. 
In  the  thought  of  many  people  the  term  "  science"  seems  to  include  only 


8 

what  are  sometimes  called  the  "exact  sciences" — that  is,  sciences  based 
on  such  principles  and  dealing  with  such  subjects  that  when  results 
have  been  obtained  they  may  be  applied  in  a  fixed  way  to  all  similar 
cases  in  accordance  with  exact  formulas.  For  example,  the  method  of 
calculating  eclipses  has  been  definitely  determined  by  astronomers  so 
that  it  is  only  necessary  for  one  to  learn  the  mathematical  formulas  and 
processes  in  order  to  determine  the  time  of  the  occurrence  of  any 
eclipse.  Obviously  such  definiteness  of  results  can  not  be  expected  in 
agricultural  investigations.  There  we  have  to  deal  with  the  complex 
problems  of  the  air,  soil,  plant,  and  animal.  Thus  far  science  has 
advanced  only  a  little  way  in  the  discovery  of  the  principles  governing 
the  manifold  intricate  operations  which  are  continually  going  on  in  the 
world  with  which  agriculture  deals.  All  that  the  scientist  can  do  at 
present  is  to  assure  the  farmer  that  his  studies  have  brought  to  light 
certain  facts  and  principles  which  may  serve  as  a  guide  to  the  improve- 
ment of  the  methods  of  agriculture.  Further  investigations  will 
undoubtedly  bring  more  light  on  many  subjects,  but  the  time  will 
probably  never  come  when  definite  rules  for  farming  can  be  formulated 
either  by  the  scientist  or  the  farmer. 

In  this  respect  medicine  and  agriculture  are  very  much  alike.  "We 
insist  more  and  more  that  our  doctors  shall  be  trained  in  scientific 
knowledge,  and  we  devote  much  money  to  scientific  investigations 
which  may  improve  the  healing  art,  but  we  do  not  expect  that  a  code 
of  definite  rules  for  the  treatment  of  diseases  will  ever  be  devised.  In 
fact,  one  thing  which  scientific  research  makes  clearer  as  it  advances  is 
that  there  exist  in  every  human  body  certain  individual  peculiarities 
which  manifest  themselves  in  disease  as  well  as  in  health,  so  that  the 
wise  doctor  must  vary  his  practice  according  to  the  patient.  It  is  for 
this  reason  that  a  family  physician  who  for  a  long  time  has  studied  the 
peculiarities  of  the  different  members  of  a  family  is  as  a  rule  much  more 
likely  to  succeed  in  treating  the  diseases  of  that  family  than  a  stranger, 
however  skillful  he  may  be.  In  like  manner  the  intelligent  farmer  is 
the  man  who  carefully  studies  his  land  and  his  animals,  and,  while  tak- 
ing advantage  of  all  the  teachings  of  science  and  experience,  shapes  his 
practice  according  to  his  own  needs.  The  experiment  stations  may 
greatly  benefit  agriculture,  but,  in  accordance  with  a  law  which  gov- 
erns all  human  progress,  they  will  inevitably  help  to  make  farming 
a  more  complex  occupation.  Greater  technical  knowledge  will  be 
required  to  be  a  successful  farmer  in  the  twentieth  century  than  has 
hitherto  been  needful.  Every  year  it  becomes  more  difficult  for  the 
ignorant  farmer  to  secure  even  the  necessities  of  life. 

HISTORY  OF    THE    STATIONS. 

About  one  hundred  years  have  elapsed  since  scientific  men  began  to 
give  attention  to  the  problems  of  agriculture,  but  it  is  less  than  fifty 
years  since  the  first  regularly  organized  experiment  station  was  estab- 


9 

lished  in  the  little  German  village  of  Moeckern.  In  this  country  the 
first  station  was  begun  at  Wesleyan  University,  Middletown,  Conn.,  in 
1S7-") — -just  twenty  years  ago — though  similar  work  had  been  previously 
carried  on  at  some  of  the  agricultural  colleges.  California,  North  Caro- 
lina, and  New  Jersey  were  among  the  first  States  to  organize  experi- 
ment stations.  The  early  work  of  the  stations  attracted  so  much  favor- 
able attention  that  their  number  rapidly  increased.  In  1887  there  were 
seventeen  stations  in  fourteen  different  States.  That  year  Congress 
passed  what  is  popularly  called  the  Hatch  Act,  which  gives  to  each  State 
and  Territory  $15,000  a  year  from  the  National  Treasury  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  an  agricultural  experiment  station  which,  except  in  a  few  cases 
indicated  in  the  law.  must  be  a  department  of  the  college  established 
under  the  land-grant  act  of  July  2,  1862.  It  was  presumed  by  Con- 
gress that  the  States  would  provide  land,  buildings,  and  other  equip- 
ment for  the  stations,  and  the  law  therefore  provides  that  the  money 
shall  be  chiefly  expended  in  carrying  on  agricultural  investigations  and 
reporting  their  results. 

The  work  of  the  stations  is  thus  outlined  in  the  act:  "It  shall  be 
the  object  and  duty  of  said  experiment  stations  to  conduct  original 
researches  or  verify  experiments  on  the  physiology  of  plants  and 
animals — the  diseases  to  which  they  are  severally  subject,  with  the 
remedies  for  the  same;  the  chemical  composition  of  useful  plants  at 
their  different  stages  of  growth;  the  comparative  advantages  of  rota- 
tive cropping  as  pursued  under  a  varying  series  of  crops;  the  capacity 
of  new  plants  or  trees  for  acclimation:  the  analysis  of  soils  and  water; 
the  chemical  composition  of  manures,  natural  or  artificial,  with  experi- 
ments designed  to  test  their  comparative  effects  on  crops  of  different 
kinds;  the  adaptation  and  value  of  grasses  and  forage  plants;  the  com- 
position and  digestibility  of  the  different  kinds  of  food  for  domestic 
animals:  the  scientific  and  economic  questions  involved  in  the  produc- 
tion of  butter  and  cheese:  and  such  other  researches  or  experiments 
bearing  directly  on  the  agricultural  industry  of  the  United  States  as 
may  in  each  case  be  deemed  advisable,  having  due  regard  to  the  vary- 
ing conditions  and  needs  of  the  respective  States  or  Territories." 
Under  this  law  the  stations  are  independent  State  institutions,  each 
working  in  its  own  way  under  the  direction  of  the  local  authorities,  who 
alone  are  responsible  for  the  expenditure  of  the  funds  committed  to 
their  trust  by  Congress.  During  the  past  year,  however,  it  has  been 
made  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture  to  ascertain  whether 
station  expenditures  are  made  in  accordance  with  the  law  and  to  report 
the  results  of  his  inquiries  to  Congress. 

Agricultural  experiment  stations  are  now  in  operation  under  the  act 
of  Congress  of  March  2, 1887,  in  all  the  States  and  Territories.  Alaska 
is  the  only  section  of  the  United  States  which  has  no  experiment  sta- 
tion. In  each  of  the  States  of  Alabama,  Connecticut,  New  Jersey,  and 
New  York  a  separate  station  is  maintained  wholly  or  in  part  by  State 


10 

funds,  and  in  Louisiana  a  station  for  sugar  experiments  is  maintained 
mainly  by  funds  contributed  by  sugar  planters.  In  several  States  sub- 
stations have  been  established.  Excluding  the  branch  stations,  the 
total  number  of  stations  in  the  United  States  is  fifty-four.  Of  these 
fifty -one  receive  the  appropriation  provided  for  in  the  act  of  Congress 
above  mentioned. 

ORGANIZATION   OF    THE    STATIONS. 

The  organization  of  the  experiment  stations  under  the  law  has  natu- 
rally taken  many  different  forms,  and  their  work  has  been  largely 
determined  by  local  needs  and  demands.  It  is,  therefore,  difficult  to 
describe  what  might  be  called  a  typical  experiment  station.  Some 
common  features  of  station  organization  and  work  may,  however,  be 
briefly  mentioned,  which  it  is  hoped  may  at  least  sufficiently  interest 
the  reader  to  lead  him  to  look  more  carefully  into  the  actual  operations 
of  the  stations,  especially  in  his  locality. 

Since  the  station  is  a  department  of  the  land-grant  college,  it  is  as  a 
rule  under  the  general  management  of  the  governing  board  of  that 
institution.  The  more  immediate  supervision  of  station  affairs  is  often 
left  to  a  standing  committee  of  the  board,  which  may  include  also 
some  college  and  station  officers.  The  president  of  the  college  has 
more  or  less  to  do  with  the  management  of  the  station  and  may  even 
be  its  director.  In  many  cases,  however,  the  director  is  a  separate 
officer  who,  in  addition  to  general  executive  duties,  carries  on  investi- 
gations in  some  special  lines  or  combines  teaching  in  the  college  with 
his  work  for  the  station.  Thus  the  station  director  may  be  a  chemist 
or  an  agriculturist  and  at  the  same  time  professor  of  chemistry  or 
agriculture.  In  some  cases  the  director  has  large  powers  and  respon- 
sibilities in  the  management  of  the  station ;  in  other  cases  the  planning 
of  the  work  is  largely  committed  to  a  council  composed  of  members  of 
the  governing  board  and  station  staff.  Besides  the  director,  the  station 
staff  usually  comprises  several  scientific  experts  in  charge  of  special 
lines  of  work,  as  dairying,  horticulture,  chemistry,  entomology,  or  dis- 
eases of  plants  or  animals,  and  scientific  assistants,  together  with  per- 
sons of  practical  experience  as  foremen  of  farms,  dairymen,  feeders  of 
cattle,  etc. 

The  region  for  which  each  station  works  is,  with  few  exceptions,  so 
large  and  the  agricultural  problems  of  each  community  so  numerous 
that  urgent  calls  are  made  upon  the  individual  stations  to  undertake 
work  in  various  lines,  and  there  is  a  constant  temptation  to  attempt 
more  kinds  of  investigations  than  can  be  successfully  carried  on  with 
the  resources  at  hand.  The  wisest  of  our  stations  are,  however,  vigor- 
ously struggling  against  this  tendency,  and  are  each  year  making  it 
clearer  that  the  best  way  is  to  do  a  few  things  thoroughly  and  well. 
The  ideal  plan  is  for  each  station  to  pursue  those  special  lines  of  work 
to  which  its  environment  makes  it  peculiarly  adapted.     Thus  one  sta- 


11 

tion  may  be  eminent  for  its  work  in  dairying,  another  in  the  feeding 
of  milch  cows  or  sheep,  another  in  horticulture,  another  in  soil  inves- 
tigations, and  another  in  irrigation.  Whatever  any  one  station  dis- 
covers of  real  and  permanent  usefulness  can  easily  be  disseminated  in 
all  the  regions  of  our  country  to  which  it  is  applicable.  The  experiment 
station  may  have  its  own  farm,  but  more  commonly  uses  for  experi- 
mental purposes  a  portion  of  the  farm  belonging  to  the  college  with 
which  it  is  connected.  As  it  is  not  the  business  of  the  station  to  carry 
on  a  farm  for  profit,  it  will  properly  work  only  as  much  land  as  is  needed 
for  such  experiments  as  can  be  rigidly  planned  and  carefully  supervised 
and  controlled.  Here,  again,  the  temptation  is  to  use  too  much  land,  to 
have  showy  rather  than  thorough  field  experiments. 

One  very  important  feature  of  an  experiment  station  farm  is  its  series 
of  permanent  plats.  The  bounds  of  these  plats  are  very  carefully  fixed, 
the  chemical  and  physical  properties  of  the  soil  are  accurately  deter- 
mined from  time  to  time,  and  a  complete  record  is  kept  of  the  fertilizers 
applied  and  the  crops  grown  each  season.  Some  work  is  planned  which 
is  to  continue  for  many  years  on  the  same  land  in  the  hope  that  as  the 
data  accumulate  year  after  year  facts  of  wide  interest  may  be  revealed. 
Perhaps  the  most  notable  example  of  this  kind  of  work  is  found  at 
Eothamsted,  England,  where  Lawes  and  Gilbert  have  observed  the 
growth  of  wheat  and  some  other  crops  on  the  same  land  in  this  careful 
way  for  over  forty  years. 

BUILDINGS    AND   EQUIPMENT. 

The  buildings  of  the  stations  include  offices,  museums,  libraries, 
chemical,  botanical,  bacteriological  and  other  laboratories,  barns,  dairy 
buildings,  silos,  plant  houses,  insectaries,  and  other  buildings  required 
for  special  purposes. 

The  equipment  consists  of  scientific  apparatus  of  various  kinds, 
much  of  which  will  necessarily  be  elaborate  and  expensive,  and  of  such 
farm  implements  and  live  stock  as  are  needed  for  use  in  the  investiga- 
tions, together  with  a  carefully  selected  Avorking  library  and  collections 
of  specimens.  As  one  of  the  very  important  lines  of  station  work  is 
the  improvement  of  the  methods  of  experimenting,  we  naturally  expect 
to  find  in  station  laboratories  and  museums  pieces  of  apparatus  devised 
by  station  officers.  When  our  people  understand  better  than  they  do 
now  that  this  kind  of  experimenting  is  essential  to  the  most  efficient 
work  of  our  stations  we  shall  expect  to  find  more  stations  engaged  in 
it,  even  if  they  have  to  give  up  some  of  the  field  work. 

WORK   OF    THE    STATIONS. 

The  work  of  the  agricultural  experiment  stations  as  organized  in 
this  country  may  be  classified  in  a  general  way  as  follows:  (1)  They  act 
as  bureaus  of  information  on  many  questions  of  practical  interest  to 
the  farmers  of  their  several  localities;  (2)  they  seek  by  practical  tests 


12 

to  devise  better  methods  of  agriculture  and  to  introduce  new  crops  and 
live  stock,  or  to  establish  new  agricultural  industries;  (3)  they  aid  the 
farmer  in  his  contest  with  insects  and  with  diseases  of  his  crops  and 
live  stock:  [4)  they  help  to  defend  the  farmer  against  fraud  in  the  sale 
of  fertilizers,  seeds,  and  feeding  stuffs;  (5)  they  investigate  the  opera- 
tions of  nature  in  the  air,  water,  soil,  plants,  and  animals  in  order  to 
find  out  the  principles  which  can  be  applied  to  the  betterment  of  the 
processes  and  products  of  agriculture. 

The  experiment  stations  are  conducting  a  wide  range  of  scientific 
research  in  the  laboratory  and  plant  house  and  an  equally  large  amount 
of  practical  experimenting  in  the  field,  the  orchard,  the  stable,  and  the 
dairy.  Thirty  stations  are  studying  problems  relating  to  meteorology 
and  climatic  conditions.  Forty  stations  are  at  work  upon  the  soil, 
investigating  its  geology,  physics,  or  chemistry,  or  conducting  soil  tests 
with  fertilizers  or  in  other  ways.  Fourteen  stations  are  studying  ques- 
tions relating  to  irrigation.  Thirty-nine  stations  are  making  analyses 
of  commercial  and  homemade  fertilizers,  or  are  conducting  field  exper- 
iments with  fertilizers.  At  least  fifteen  stations  either  exercise  a  fer- 
tilizer control  in  their  respective  States  or  make  analyses  on  which 
the  control  is  based.  All  the  stations  are  studying  the  more  important 
crops,  either  with  regard  to  their  composition,  nutritive  value,  methods 
of  manuring  and  cultivation,  and  the  best  varieties  adapted  to  indi- 
vidual localities,  or  with  reference  to  systems  of  rotation.  Thirty -five 
stations  are  investigating  the  composition  of  feeding  stuffs,  and  in 
some  instances  making  digestion  experiments.  Thirty-seven  stations 
are  conducting  feeding  experiments  for  milk,  beef,  mutton,  or  pork,  or 
are  studying  different  methods  of  feeding.  Thirty-two  stations  are 
investigating  subjects  relating  to  dairying,  including  the  chemistry  and 
bacteria  of  milk,  creaming,  butter  making,  or  the  construction  and 
management  of  creameries.  Forty-five  stations  are  studying  methods 
of  analysis  and  doing  other  chemical  work.  Botanical  studies  occupy 
more  or  less  of  the  attention  of  about  thirty  stations:  these  include 
investigations  in  systematic  and  physiological  botany,  with  especial 
reference  to  the  diseases  of  plants,  testing  of  seeds  with  reference  to 
their  vitality  and  purity,  classification  of  weeds,  and  methods  for  their 
eradication.  Forty-three  stations  work  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  in 
horticulture,  testing  varieties  of  vegetables  and  large  and  small  fruits, 
and  making  studies  in  varietal  improvement  and  synonymy.  Several 
stations  have  begun  operations  in  forestry.  Thirty-one  stations  inves- 
tigate injurious  insects  with  a  view  to  their  restriction  or  destruction. 
Sixteen  stations  study  and  treat  animal  diseases  or  perform  such  opera- 
tions as  dehorning  animals.  At  least  seven  stations  are  engaged  iu 
bee  culture,  and  three  in  experiments  with  poultry. 

A  million  dollars  are  now  annually  expended  in  the  United  States  in 
the  maintenance  of  agricultural  experiment  stations.  Three-quarters  of 
this  large   sum  comes  from  the  Xatioual  Treasury.     While  this  is  a 


13 

much  larger  aggregate  expenditure  for  this  purpose  than  has  ever  been 
made  by  any  other  nation,  it  involves  the  use  of  only  30  cents  for  each 
61,000 of  our  agricultural  product  in  an  attempt  to  improve  the  quality 
and  quantity  of  that  product.  From  this  point  of  view  the  resources 
of  the  stations  can  not  be  deemed  unreasonably  large,  especially  when 
we  consider  the  wide  diversification  of  our  agriculture  .even  under 
present  conditions,  and  the  great  need  for  more  rational  and  profitable 
methods  of  farming.  On  the  other  hand,  the  annual  expenditure  of  so 
vast  a  sum  from  the  National  Treasury  can  not  be  justified  unless  the 
institutions  conducted  under  this  grant  show  a  keen  appreciation  of 
their  responsibility  to  make  a  wise  and  economical  use  of  the  funds 
intrusted  to  them  by  the  people. 

NUMBER    OF    STATION   OFFICERS. 

The  stations  employ  557  persons  in  the  work  of  administration  and 
inquiry.  The  number  of  officers  engaged  in  the  different  lines  of  work 
is  as  follows:  Directors,  67:  secretaries  and  treasurers,  26;  librarians, 
8:  clerks,  27;  in  charge  of  substations,  40 ;  agriculturists,  55;  biolo- 
gists, 11:  botanists,  36;  chemists,  124:  entomologists,  43;  geologists,  5; 
horticulturists,  61 ;  irrigation  engineers,  7;  meteorologists,  15;  mycolo- 
gists and  bacteriologists,  7;  physicists,  3;  veterinarians.  24;  dairymen, 
11 ;  farm  foremen,  25. 

There  are  also  28  persons  classified  under  the  head  of  " miscella- 
neous, n  including  superintendents  of  gardens,  grounds,  and  buildings, 
apiarists,  herdsmen,  etc. 

EXTENT    OF    STATION   PUBLICATIONS. 

Since  their  establishment  the  stations  have  published  several  thou- 
sand annual  reports  and  bulletins.  In  1894  they  issued  54  annual 
reports  and  401  bulletins.  An  average  edition  of  10,000  copies  of  each 
of  these  publications  was  distributed  in  the  several  States  and  Terri- 
tories, or  over  4.500,000  copies  in  the  aggregate. 

Besides  regular  reports  and  bulletins,  a  number  of  the  stations  issue 
press  bulletins,  which  are  widely  reproduced  in  agricultural  and  county 
papers.  The  station  bulletins  are  now  regularly  distributed  to  half  a 
million  persons  who  are  either  farmers  or  closely  identified  with  the 
agricultural  industry.  Moreover,  accounts  of  the  station  work  are 
given  and  discussed  in  thousands  of  newspapers.  The  New  York 
Cornell  Station  alone  estimated  some  time  ago  that  each  one  of  its 
publications  directly  or  indirectly  reached  more  than  half  a  million 
readers.  Besides  this  a  very  large  correspondence  with  farmers  is  car- 
ried on,  hundreds  of  public  addresses  are  annually  made  by  station 
officers  before  farmers'  meetings,  and  the  results  of  station  work  are 
taught  to  thousands  of  students  in  agricultural  colleges. 


14 

The  requirement  of  the  law  by  which  each  station  must  issue  a 
report  and  at  least  four  bulletins  each  year,  while  it  has  in  many  cases 
caused  the  premature  publication  of  unfinished  experiments,  has  also 
greatly  stimulated  the  dissemination  of  useful,  practical  information 
through  the  stations.  The  work  connected  with  the  preparation,  pub- 
lication, and  mailing  of  the  reports  and  bulletins  is  very  large.  The 
mailing  lists  of  the  stations  now  average  about  10,000  addresses  each. 
When  we  add  to  the  publication  work  an  extensive  correspondence  and 
the  keeping  of  accurate  official  records  and  accounts  it  is  seen  that 
the  burden  of  clerical  duties  imposed  upon  the  stations  is  quite  heavy. 

WAYS   IN   WHICH   THE    STATIONS   HELP    THE   FARMER. 

The  service  which  the  stations  have  rendered  in  promoting  the  edu- 
cation of  our  farmers  is  incalculable. 

Even  if  the  station  bulletins  recorded  only  facts  well  known  to  scien- 
tists and  advanced  agriculturists,  the  influence  of  such  a  far-reaching 
system  of  popular  education  in  agriculture  must  be  very  great.  So  vast 
a  scheme  of  university  extension  has  never  been  undertaken  in  any 
other  line. 

The  stations  have  also  taught  the  farmer  how  to  help  himself.  In  a 
number  of  lines  their  work  has  shown  that  to  be  thoroughly  success- 
ful the  farmer  must  himself  be  an  experimenter.  This  has  been  notably 
brought  out  by  the  experiments  in  the  use  of  fertilizers.  Hundreds  of 
farmers  have  already  made  experiments  in  cooperation  with  the  sta- 
tions, and  have  thus  learned  something  about  proper  methods  of  experi- 
menting, and  have  given  their  neighbors  valuable  lessons  on  the  way 
to  apply  the  experience  gained  by  scientific  investigators  to  the  peculiar 
conditions  of  individual  farms. 

But  the  stations  have  also  found  out  some  things  which  are  new,  and 
have  performed  services  of  great  economic  value. 

In  the  study  of  soils  and  fertilizers;  in  the  tests  of  new  varieties  of 
cereals,  forage  plants,  vegetables,  and  fruits ;  in  researches  on  the  com- 
position and  digestibility  of  feeding  stuffs;  in  feeding  experiments, 
especially  with  pigs  and  dairy  cattle;  in  investigations  in  dairying, 
especially  regarding  means  for  testing  milk  and  the  methods  of  cheese 
making;  in  observations  on  plant  diseases  and  injurious  insects,  and 
in  experiments  on  the  repression  of  these  foes  of  the  farmer,  many 
useful  results  have  been  reached. 

In  general  it  may  be  said  that  the  stations  are  in  better  condition 
than  ever  before  to  do  efficient  service  for  the  improvement  of  our 
agriculture.  Experience  has  shown  the  need  and  value  of  experimen- 
tal inquiries  in  the  lines  pursued  by  the  stations,  and  the  economic 
results  have  been  sufficient  to  justify  tbe  continuance  and  development 
of  these  institutions  under  such  conditions  as  will  enable  them  to  do 
their  most  useful  work. 


15 

The  general  interests  of  the  stations  are  promoted  by  the  Association 
of  American  Agricultural  Colleges  and  Experiment  Stations,  a  volun- 
tary association  organized  in  1887,  which  holds  annual  meetings  in 
different  parts  of  the  country.  The  proceedings  of  the  association  are 
published  by  the  Office  of  Experiment  Stations  of  this  Department. 

THE    OFFICE    OF   EXPERIMENT    STATIONS. 

The  act  of  Congress  establishing  the  stations  makes  it  the  duty  of  the 
Secretary  of  Agriculture  to  render  to  them  such  advice  and  assistance 
as  may  best  promote  the  objects  for  which  they  were  established.  For 
this  purpose  an  Office  of  Experiment  Stations  was  organized  as  a 
branch  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  in  October,  1888. 

Its  main  business  has  been  the  examination  of  the  work  of  the  agri- 
cultural experiment  stations  in  this  and  other  countries  and  the  collation 
and  publication  of  data  regarding  experimental  inquiries  in  agriculture 
for  the  information  of  station  workers,  farmers,  and  others  interested 
in  the  progress  of  the  science  and  art  of  agriculture.  There  are  now 
some  320  experiment  stations  in  operation  in  the  different  countries  of 
the  world.  Besides  the  publications  which  these  stations  issue,  very 
many  reports  of  agricultural  inquiries  at  these  and  other  institutions 
are  published  in  current  periodicals.  As  far  as  practicable  this  Office 
seeks  to  traverse  this  large  mass  of  literature  and  to  cull  from  it  such 
information  as  will  enable  our  station  workers  to  keep  posted  regarding 
the  progress  of  agricultural  science  and  will  promptly  bring  to  our 
farmers  the  practical  outcome  of  these  investigations  in  the  different 
countries. 

Up  to  January  1,  1895,  the  office  had  issued  135  documents,  includ 
ing  5  volumes  of  the  Experiment  Station  Kecord,  20  bulletins,  and  9 
Farmers'  Bulletins. 

The  Experiment  Station  Eecord  is  issued  in  parts,  and  contains 
abstracts  of  the  current  publications  of  all  the  American  stations,  of 
the  several  divisions  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture, 
and  of  reports  of  foreign  investigations  in  agricultural  science.  Gen- 
eral information  is  also  given  regarding  the  stations  and  kindred  insti- 
tutions in  this  and  other  countries,  and  suggestions  regarding  methods 
and  lines  of  investigations  which  may  usefully  be  followed  by  our 
stations  are  made  in  articles  by  the  editors  and  by  distinguished 
experts  in  the  different  specialties  at  home  and  abroad.  A  detailed 
subject  and  author  index  is  published  with  each  volume.  As  the  con- 
densed form  of  the  Eecord  makes  its  language  necessarily  technical, 
it  is  distributed  chiefly  to  agricultural  college  and  station  officers, 
libraries,  and  educational  institutions. 

The  practical  results  of  agricultural  investigations  at  home  and 
abroad  are  also  summarized  in  this  office  and  published  in  Farmers' 
Bulletins,  which  are  widely  distributed  to  farmers.  The  work  of  the 
office  in  this  line  will  be  extended  in  the  future. 


16 

Schedules  for  the  financial  reports  of  stations,  as  now  required  by 
Congress,  are  prepared  in  this  office,  and  the  office  also  makes  an  exam- 
ination of  the  stations  as  the  basis  of  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of 
Agriculture  to  Congress  regarding  the  expenditures  and  work  of  the 
stations. 

Congress  having  given  this  Department  an  appropriation  for  inves- 
tigations on  the  nutritive  value  and  economy  of  human  food,  the 
supervision  of  this  work  has  been  assigned  to  this  office.  Popular 
and  scientific  resumes  of  such  investigations  in  this  country  and 
abroad  have  already  been  published  and  inquiries  in  this  line  are 
now  in  progress  in  a  number  of  representative  localities  North  and 
South,  largely  in  cooperation  with  agricultural  colleges  and  experiment 
stations. 


08927  7502 


